With an increasingly digital-first mindset redefining partnership dynamics within the iGaming industry, iGaming Future caught up with Betbazar CEO, Alex Iaroshenko, to get his thoughts on why trust, transparency and innovation are crucial to building mutually beneficial long-term collaborations.‍

What challenges do you see with building trust in a digital-first iGaming world?

“With iGaming becoming more competitive and new start-ups emerging monthly, it’s tough to gauge partnerships. If they lack ties to a proven brand, businesses should focus on shared values and long-term ethical commitment. With fewer barriers to entry, many start-ups prioritize quick growth over trust and sustainability. Responsible brands must find the right balance to stay in the industry.

“Of course, if your business is operating across multiple regulated markets, you need to be able to demonstrate that you comply with all regional guidelines and operate in a transparent way, as failing to do so can really damage the credibility of your brand. Similarly, any breach in data privacy could be fatal in terms of public trust, so businesses must invest heavily in cyber security and ensure that they follow industry standards as to how data is collected, used and stored. Finally, no matter how digital-first your strategy may be, there’s always value in meeting clients face-to-face and adding that personal touch to your relationship. This is something Betbazar has prioritised despite the nature of our business, and you’ll always find us at all of the biggest events.”‍

How does Betbazar prioritise transparency and trust in its partnerships?‍

“Transparency and trust should be the cornerstones of any successful partnership, so of course at Betbazar we prioritise both. We’ve built up a framework that emphasises, clear, open communication and alignment with our partners’ needs and goals – and this means maintaining full transparency over the terms of any deal and ensuring that all parties are clear about expectations, performance metrics and any potential risks involved. This helps to avoid any misunderstandings and fosters a culture of mutual respect and reliability, which is further enhanced by the way we share performance analytics, user behaviour insights and the status of compliance processes so partners have the information they need to make informed decisions.

“I’d say it’s also very important to know the type of people that you’re working with and understand who will have responsibility for which roles within the partnership. I think our new eCricket product is a great example of how these collaborations should work, as here we found a partner that could fill a gap in our line-up and offer something interesting to our clients, but also one that needed a little help in putting their brand in front of the right people. They were already experts in the field of AI content creation and were doing a great job with their games, but they needed our know-how to actually get their product to market – and by trusting each other’s expertise and having this clear division of responsibility, we were able to build a mutually beneficial partnership.”‍

What advice would you give to other leaders on creating meaningful, lasting partnerships?‍

“I touched on it in one of my previous answers, but I think in an industry driven by rapid change and innovation, it’s easy to get caught up in short term gains. Often when a new start-up emerges, they prioritise rapid expansion and acquiring customers as soon as possible, but focusing solely on this can mean that they overlook scalability, sustainability and other longer-term goals. With this in mind, my advice to other leaders would be to focus on your shared values and your objectives for the future, then make a commitment that you know will add value for all parties involved. In order to do this, you need to invest time in getting to know your partners on a deeper level so that you understand their business, their culture and the challenges they face, as only then will you be able to figure out how best to collaborate and support each other going forward.

“As trust is one of the most valuable assets in any working relationship, it’s also important to be upfront about your own company’s strengths and weaknesses and outline clearly how you see the partnership working. If you’re entering a new venture together, it’s often worth considering some sort of sharing of equity, as this will help bond your companies together and ensure that you remain invested in each other’s success, rather than simply working to fulfil a contract. Of course, strong partnerships aren’t just transactional – they’re built on a foundation of collaboration where both parties feel supported and valued – but having these arrangements in place can ensure you have a clear idea of how any successes will be shared when they happen.”‍

How do you see partnerships evolving in the iGaming sector over the next decade?

“I definitely expect iGaming partnerships to become more diversified over the coming years and we’ll see more collaborations between companies with complementary strengths. Essentially, as the industry continues to expand, businesses will need to leverage each other’s expertise in order to remain competitive and this could mean more partnerships between operators and payment processors or game developers and AI companies. The latter is particularly interesting as I also believe there will be a greater emphasis on innovation and technology partnerships, leading to further adoption of AI, machine learning and blockchain. This will in turn help operators develop cutting-edge solutions to improve everything from their customer service to compliance.

“Beyond that I believe we’ll continue to see the use of data play an even more prominent role in the iGaming space – with partnerships increasingly revolving around data sharing and analytics – and I also expect the importance of ethical considerations to increase as scrutiny from regulators intensifies. In the coming years, we’ll see more emphasis placed on building partnerships based on social responsibility and a commitment to sustainability, which could lead to some really interesting collaborations between iGaming operators and responsible gaming initiatives. Of course, the bigger iGaming conglomerates will continue to acquire companies to enter markets where they don’t already have a share, but it’s my hope that through smart collaboration with suitable partners, newer names will establish themselves so we have more variety in our industry.”